The West Sussex approach puts the child first. We work with children, families, communities, our partners and schools in a restorative, strength based way. Strong relationships are at the heart of what we do.
Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council
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Wednesday 16 November 2022
Childcare Survey Results
Parents and carers of children aged 0-14 (up to 18 with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)) were surveyed from 1 to 30 September 2022 to understand their current and future childcare needs.
739 surveys were completed, 49% included parents of children who were 0-4 and 78% included parents of school age children, and 27% included a parent of a child with SEND.
Over 90% of families with children under 5 felt their child’s setting had a positive impact on their child’s development. And 83% could access all the formal childcare they required. Those who could not access a place the main reason was due to cost, not availability of places.
The survey has identified that the main challenges for families in West Sussex are around:
- Affordability of childcare.
- Availability of childcare places for children with SEND, with high quality experienced staff who can meet the needs of the child.
- The flexibility of childcare providers to meet the changing needs of families.
- Availability of wrap around care for school age children.
We would like to thank you for your support in sharing this with the families who attend your setting. This invaluable information will now be used to inform the West Sussex County Council Early Years and Childcare Strategy. Please look out for more information in this broadcast over the coming months.
Termly childcare provider update form – reminder to submit
Please submit a provider update form on the Online Provider Portal for this term. For support with updating your vacancies, click here.
Important reasons for submitting termly updates:
- When new businesses or housing developments are proposed in your local area, we use your provider and vacancy information to help identify if new early years provision is required. New settings may open unnecessarily if your information is out of date and wrong.
- Your information helps families find suitable childcare for their children across the county.
- Free advertisement on our website which receives, on average, just under 10,000 hits a month.
How your updates benefit families:
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Families call us for help to find childcare that meets their individual needs.
- One of the biggest complaints the FIS receives from parents is that setting vacancy information is out of date which is frustrating searching for childcare. Our information is only as good as the information you can give us.
- Parents do use our website to find childcare. The details you provide help them to make informed decisions on which providers to contact.
You should provide at least a termly update:
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Update, even if you’re full. Updating is about more than just free advertising. Out of date information can directly affect your business.
- If you have not updated your details in the last year we will remove you from our public list. This is to prevent a breach to our data protection policy, which you agree to when submitting your profile update.
The Early Education and Childcare statutory guidance (June 2018) require local authorities to publish setting information which is updated at least once a term.
Drones and education settings
There has been a reported recent increase in suspicious drone activity around education settings. Most drones will be equipped with video and still cameras which can obtain high-quality images from several kilometres away. Please contact your local police if you see a drone flying over your setting.
DfE Childminder Mentor programme
The Department for Education (DfE) have provided an update on the new DfE Childminder Mentor programme. Applications for the roles of Area Lead and Mentor are now live on gov.uk. The link to the application page is available here: Childminder mentor programme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The deadline to submit an expression of interest application form is the 16 December 2022. More information on how childminders can request support from the programme, will be shared in due course.
DfE Early Years SENCO Training
There has been a high level of interest in the Department for Education's (DfE) Early Years (EY) SENCO training offer. Having more qualified SENCOs in the Early Years sector will have positive impacts on children with SEND and on the sector as a whole. Funding is available for 5,000 places in total. Training will be delivered to cohorts of trainees between October 2022 and August 2024. Each cohort will run for four months. Over 3,500 eligible applications have already been received by the DfE's delivery partner Best Practice Network (BPN). High demand could mean long wait times for many applicants before commencing the training. This situation is being managed in the following ways:
- Training places are being offered to applicants in order of date received and each applicant is being given an indication of when they can expect to commence the training.
- A waiting list will come into effect once the 5,000 places have been filled, again operated in order of date received.
- Where an applicant withdraws, applicants will move up the queue.
- Pre-training activities will be offered, aimed at preparing applicants for the training and supporting them in their SENCO role pending training. Activities will include provision of the course induction book and pre-reading, regular newsletter and programme updates and case studies from SENCOs.
- BPN are expanding the number of places to be made available in early cohorts so that more applicants can take the training sooner.
More information about the training can be found on the BPN website.
New Foundation Years Blog
Julia Lumb, SEND Specialist Co-ordinator for Early Years and Portage and Specialist Inclusion Manager at Calderdale Council has written a blog for the Foundation Years website. You can read her blog on the impact of COVID-19 on supporting young children with SEND and neurodiverse needs here.
Intermediate Child Development - Last Chance This Term
Suitable for those who wish to refresh or enhance their knowledge of child development. The aims of these courses are to identify some key child development theories relating to each age group and the main characteristics of their development, including typical milestones and emotional challenges. The revised EYFS and supporting materials emphasise the importance of practitioners’ ability to use their professional judgement when assessing children’s development and progress, through a sound understanding of child development. The cost is £26 per place.
- Beginning with babies (0-2 years) (Webinar) – Friday 20 January – 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 23/425
- Talking about toddlers (2-3 years) (Webinar) - Wednesday 1 February – 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 23/278
- Playful pre-schooler (3-4 years) (Webinar) - Tuesday 7 February - 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 23/428
- Ready for school (4-5 years) (Webinar) – Tuesday 21 February - 9.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 23/428
To book, search for the course code on the Learning and Development Gateway. If you have any questions, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
- 9 NOV - Portal opened for FE Estimates
- 25 NOV - Portal closed for FE Estimates
- w/c 5 DEC - FE Estimate payments due
- 31 DEC - Sufficiency for Autumn term deadline
To allow our Early Years and Childcare Advisors to focus their support to where it is most needed, we ask that you check for information online before you contact us.
COVID-19 guidance
Other information and guidance (WSCC)
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Practice support (EYFS, Diversity and Inclusion, health and wellbeing, transitions, legislation, regulation and safeguarding)
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Supporting families in your childcare setting (includes CLaWBA, integrated reviews)
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Tools for schools and settings (supporting the inclusion of all children in early years)
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Business support (Free Entitlement, marketing, finance, recruitment, advertising)
- Training and qualifications
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Network meetings/events (Learning and development, INCO SENCO, business and welfare)
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Online Provider Portal (submission dates, help guides)
For help to access information
To request additional support for your setting
Please inform the Family Information Service if your setting needs to close or is re-opening. Email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk and include your setting name, Ofsted URN, the date you intend to close/open, and any changes to your operating hours. If you inform us of re-opening, you will be reinstated on the public list and appear on our website www.westsussex.gov.uk/fis.
If closing due to COVID-19, please consult the guidance to check when to inform Ofsted.
In the event of your setting having a confirmed COVID-19 case, if Public Health or the Department for Education have stated you must close for any period of time you must inform the Family Information Service. However, if Public Heath have not explicitly stated in correspondence to you that the setting must close, we would expect you to make contact with your Early Years and Childcare Adviser (EYCA) to talk through your circumstances, where possible, before making the decision to close the setting. If you are not able to make immediate contact with your EYCA then please email your nearest Early Help Hub using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
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#239 (Early years education recovery programme; contacting your EYCA team; online provider portal feedback form; new flyer to replace CFC registration form in welcome packs; network meetings; West Sussex disability register; the SrHEC approach; new vodcast on online safety; safety resources for autumn; anti-bullying week; early years training)
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#238 (Safeguarding focus: disclosure and barring service; safe to play launch; road safety week; updated health protection guidance; energy bill relief scheme survey; early years funding boost; SEND newsletter; assessment course; - Ofsted blog - committee run childcare; support with the cost of living)
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#237 (Input into our Early Years strategy; autumn actuals payment expected; 2 year old funding criteria extended to include all families with no recourse to public funds; retaining and recruiting practitioners; business focus; launch of seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccinations programmes; early years food and nutrition survey; early years professional development programme - phase 3; support for early years settings from the experts and mentors programme; EYFS reforms One Year On conference; I CAN is now Speech and Language UK)
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#236 (Government's energy support scheme; starting school questionnaire; wrap around childcare for armed forces families; network meetings; early years designated lead forum; virtual school website; inclusion courses; home learning environment campaign launched; new blog on the early years experts and mentors programme)
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#235 (Starting school applications; Ofsted roadshows; new foundation years vodcast and blog; autumn term network meetings; updated contact details for SAT EY SEND transition teachers)
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